Do You Like Natural Lighting? Here are 5 Ways To Enhance Your Home

It’s always a pleasure to be close to nature and feel the warmth of the early morning sun rays. Natural light enhances the environment inside the house and ensures fresh ambience throughout the day.

Daylight is the source of beneficial vitamin D which our body needs to stay healthy. A building can be designed in such a way that there is maximum daylight inside the house. The importance of daylight:

• Sunlight during the day helps in healing the body.
• It’s good for strong bones as vitamin D is most important
• Keeping the environment inside the house clean and pleasant. Keeps the cycle of day and night
• Builds good immune system of the members of the family.
• Daylight also keeps the happy mode on inside the house for every member of the family.

There can be various ways of keeping every part of the house with a  good amount of daylight and ventilation. The sources can be:

1. Design of the house: The house must be designed by the architect in such a way that the shape and size of the windows must be defined clearly. The shading and glazing styles must be in such a way that it suits the building. The windows must be planned in such a way that there is maximum daylight inside the house.

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2. Directions of the Windows: The placement of the windows in the house must be in such a way that daylight is   comforting the house throughout the day. Windows facing north can give maximum daylight. However, the thermal   heat is lost during the winters. South facing windows well glazed can bring in a  good amount of heat and be      beneficial during summers and winters.

Source: kechdesignstudio.com/

3. Use of Glazing: Glazing is the most effective way of getting maximum daylight inside the house. Few small strip   windows in the ceiling can be designed which will increase the daylight and give a trendy look to your house.    Around 30 percent of the ceiling can be used for glazed windows.

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4. Roofing Techniques: Solar panels can be installed on the roofs to generate electricity and reduce the    consumption of electricity in the house. The monthly electricity bills, reduce and this is also a good option to go green with solar. These panels absorb heat during the sun hours and store it which can be used during the night. The solar panels can also be used to generate electricity in case of power shut downs. There can be use of tubular Skylights. These lights save lots of electricity as they are installed on the roof. It absorbs the sunlight and then flows in a tube and brings in light inside the house.

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5. Use of Sober Colours: While getting your house painted use of sober colours helps in giving a bright look to the house. Light colours help in keeping the house cool. The trim of the windows can be painted in white which would help in giving an elegant look to the house.

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Case Study: Sobha Turquoise – Vedapatti – Coimbatore

Source: constructionworld.in/

One of the green building which is rated Platinum from IGBC is a residential project. There are around 95 houses. There are many houses which are north and east facing. It gives maximum daylight in the house. The common walls of the houses are made with thermal insulated blocks and high solar reflectance tiles. This helps in maintaining the temperature balance inside the house. Maximum exposure of daylight in the house reduces electricity usage and saves energy.

1. Case Study – Anna Centenary Library – Kotturpuram – India (Largest library)

                     Source: inhabitat.com/

The Anna Centenary building is India’s largest library it consists of more than 1.5 million books and can accommodate more than a thousand readers at a time. It is rated Gold by LEED.

Natural lighting is a major attraction of this building. There are large windows which face north and east. In this building there is use of skylights which help in keeping the library well lit. The building also has made water conservation facility and has a lot of green space in the campus.

Daylight is essential and free resource. This resource is given less importance. However, it has maximum advantages if the house is well planned with lots of sunlight helps to keep the home environment fresh, clean and keeps the members of the family healthy.